Finding a Needle in a Haystack: the Advantages of Liquid Chromatography--Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in Determination of Sex Hormones in Children.

Determination of steroid sex hormones concentrations in children is very important for diagnosis of a wide range of pubertal, adrenal and sex development disorders. The majority of hormone measurements are carried out using traditional immunoassays, due to their technical simplicity, cost and availability of commercial reagents. But, due to limited specificity and sensitivity, traditional immunoassays often fail to determine low concentration analytes such as sex hormones in pediatric blood. In the last decade, the LC-MS/MS assay has risen as a new player in the analytic diagnostic field. The assay has proven appropriate for detection of very low hormones concentrations in blood, is quite easy to perform and can detect multiple steroids from a single sample. For the routine determination of an individual or panel of steroids, LC-MS/MS is now the recommended method for most diagnostic laboratories.

Killing of avian and Swine influenza virus by natural killer cells.

Today, global attention is focused on two influenza virus strains: the current pandemic strain, swine origin influenza virus (H1N1-2009), and the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, H5N1. At present, the infection caused by the H1N1-2009 is moderate, with mortality rates of less <1%. In contrast, infection with the H5N1 virus resulted in high mortality rates, and ca. 60% of the infected patients succumb to the infection. Thus, one of the world greatest concerns is that the H5N1 virus will evolve to allow an efficient human infection and human-to-human transmission. Natural killer (NK) cells are one of the innate immune components playing an important role in fighting against influenza viruses. One of the major NK activating receptors involved in NK cell cytotoxicity is NKp46. We previously demonstrated that NKp46 recognizes the hemagglutinin proteins of B and A influenza virus strains. Whether NKp46 could also interact with H1N1-2009 virus or with the avian influenza virus is still unknown. We analyzed the immunological properties of both the avian and the H1N1-2009 influenza viruses. We show that NKp46 recognizes the hemagglutinins of H1N1-2009 and H5 and that this recognition leads to virus killing both in vitro and in vivo. However, importantly, while the swine H1-NKp46 interactions lead to the direct killing of the infected cells, the H5-NKp46 interactions were unable to elicit direct killing, probably because the NKp46 binding sites for these two viruses are different.

Rapid detection of influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus neuraminidase resistance mutation H275Y by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR.

The emergence of oseltamivir-resistant influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus highlights the need for rapid oseltamivir resistance screening. We report the development and validation of high-throughput real-time reverse transcriptase PCR assays for the detection of the H275Y substitution in the neuraminidase 1 gene that can be accomplished in 3 to 4 h.

Resolution of inflammation-related apoptotic processes by the synthetic tellurium compound, AS101 following liver injury.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fulminant hepatic failure is a dangerous condition, which occurs when large parts of the liver become damaged beyond repair, and the liver is no longer able to function. This syndrome is induced by inflammatory processes, resulting in acute liver failure. Recently, the organotellurium compound, trichloro(dioxoethylene-O,O(')) tellurate (AS101), has been found by our group to be able to directly inhibit caspases, due to its Te(IV)-thiol chemistry. The aim of this study was to examine the potential of AS101 as an anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic compound in vitro and in vivo following liver injury. METHODS: Propionibacterium acnes-primed LPS-induced liver injury was performed in Balb/c mice. ALT/AST, cytokines, caspase-1,-3 and-8 activities, and liver histology were assessed. RESULTS: AS101 inhibited TNFalpha or anti-FAS-induced apoptotic processes in hepatocytes in vitro. A P. acnes+LPS in vivo liver injury model revealed lower serum ALT and AST and reduced necrosis and apoptosis in AS101-treated mice. IL-18 and IL-1beta reduced levels in AS101-treated mice were associated with caspase-1 activity inhibition. Our findings suggest IL-6, IL-17 and pSTAT3 as additional novel players in the pathogenicity of FHF. Inhibition of caspase-3, and-8 activities by AS101 treatment contributed to decreased hepatocyte death, resulting in increased survival. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that due to its interaction with key-target cysteine residues, AS101 mediates anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects in this FHF model, which may serve as a potent treatment for mitigation of hepatic damage.

Epidemiological changes of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in Israel.

RSV is the leading cause of lower respiratory-tract infections in infants and therefore demands in-depth epidemiological characterization. We investigated here the distribution of RSV types in Israel between the years 2005-2012. Clinical samples were collected from 11,018 patients hospitalized due to respiratory illnesses and were evaluated for the presence of various respiratory viruses, including RSV A and RSV B. Until 2008, each year was characterized by the presence of one dominant type of RSV. However, from 2008, both RSV A and B types were detected at significant levels, particularly among infants aged 0-2 years. Furthermore, significant changes in the RSV A and RSV B subtypes circulating in Israel since 2008 were observed. Finally, we demonstrate that, irrespectively of the changes observed in RSV epidemiology, when the pandemic H1N1pdm09 influenza virus appeared in 2009, RSV infections were delayed and were detected when infection with H1N1pdm09 had declined.